


Towards the Horizon

by astrohot



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dark Harry, F/M, Gryffindor vs. Slytherin Rivalry, M/M, Magically Powerful Harry Potter, Not Canon Compliant, Slow Build Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter, Slow Burn, Slytherin Harry Potter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:22:09
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,848
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22182505
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astrohot/pseuds/astrohot
Summary: "SLYTHERIN," the Sorting Hat bellowed from atop Harry's head.Its cry rang out into the Great Hall, which was suddenly cold and quiet. It seemed to echo within his head. No. No no no no no.War is brewing, Harry's life is on the line, and he's just been thrown to the snakes. How bad could it be?
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 28
Kudos: 309





	1. Lion’s Pride

**Author's Note:**

> Hey y'all this is my first fic... bit of creative writing I suppose. Let me know what you think of the story as you read. I'll be editing throughout and adding my own take on the Harry Potter series. Thank you for reading!

Deep breath in, deep breath out. Harry picked the paper up again, as if looking at it again would change was was written.

_Mandatory resorting ceremony._

The words seemed to be mocking him, glaring defiantly up at him from the page, and he could only watch as his fingers involuntarily tightened to fists, crumpling the neatly written letter. Sighing heavily, Harry leaned back against the plush sofa of the Gryffindor common room and removed his glasses to rub a hand over his already-watering eyes. He’d really fucked up this time.

It had been a stupid, poorly thought out decision, as many of his ideas tended to be. It seemed so simple at the time though; no more daring than any of the other stunts he’d pulled with Ron and Hermione in their relentless mission to defeat Voldemort. Just steal one of Dumbledore's books. He wasn’t even certain what they’d expected to find in it, but Hermione suspected it could contain information on the horcruxes and that was all the convincing Harry had needed to sneak into the headmaster’s office to search for it. Little did he know, but with the resurgence of the Death Eaters and Voldemort's power, the room and its valuables had received some powerful new defenses.

He remembered the pride he’d felt at finding the book he was searching for, a sense of satisfaction that yet another one of his half thought-out plans had been successful. Yet, the second his fingers brushed the worn cover, he’d fallen to the floor in a broken shout. He would only learn later what had actually happened. A menagerie of spells had been placed on the book to protect it from wrongdoers. One to freeze him in place, one to knock him out, one to alert Dumbledore of the intrusion, and a final one used to instantly expel any student that’d dared try to take it. Apparently his headmaster had believed traps like these would be the best way to strictly dispel of students working for the Dark Lord.

Apparently no one had thought that the ‘Chosen One’ would be the one getting trapped. Of course the expulsion had been lifted, but he would no longer be recognized by the school as a Gryffindor until the Sorting Hat had had its way with him again.

“Harry, are you honestly still worrying over that?”

He sat up and whipped around at the sound of Hermione’s irritated voice, she was standing half way down the staircase to the girl’s rooms, looking exasperated.

“It’s not like anything extraordinary will happen tomorrow. Embarrassing, sure, but everything will go back to normal after that; it’s certainly nothing to be losing sleep over, especially when you still have classes tomorrow afternoon,” she sniped at him.

“Yeah, I know, I’m just… nervous I guess.”

She rolled her eyes.

“You’re about as brave as it gets, which is how you got into this mess in the first place, you have nothing to be worried about. Now get to bed. The light and sounds of you moping are keeping me up,” she turned haughtily and made her way back up the stairs to her dorm.

Harry silently fumed. _**We** got into_, he corrected in his head. _**We** got into this mess_. He could feel magic surging just beneath his skin, triggered by his anger and vying for an opportunity. To do what exactly, he wasn’t sure. Attack? Protect? His temper had only seemed to get worse with each passing day and with it his powers had felt even more wild and out of his control. He sighed and fell back against the couch.

Courage. Chivalry. Determination. These were the words that had come to define him, in the public eye at least. Yet, with his growing desire to defeat Voldemort, he’d felt less and less like the pure hero he was expected to be.

Cunning and ambitious though...

Harry’s heart clenched at the thought; it’d become a recurring one, and the worm of worry only seemed to dig its way further into his mind. He’d barely managed to convince the hat away from Slytherin the first time through, but this time around he wasn’t so sure he’d make it. After all, his first year he’d had much stronger convictions to get into Gryffindor than he did to stay in the house now. Add onto that the fact that he’d felt less and less like a Gryffindor as of recent, he was seriously concerned for his future at Hogwarts.

Harry couldn’t go into that dark house, he simply couldn’t. He was certain that he wouldn’t even be able to survive a night in that common room, much less spend his days surrounded by future Death Eaters. No, he wouldn’t let it happen. He’d convinced the Hat once before and he could do it again. With one final sigh he got to his feet and made his way to bed, might as well get some sleep before his _big day_.


	2. Into the Snake Pit

It had been a sleepless night.

He sat in the Great Hall, waiting for Dumbledore to make his appearance, Ron at his side and Hermione sitting directly across the table from him. Hermione had given him a heartfelt apology that morning, seeming genuinely guilty about her poor mood from the night before and wanting to wish him luck. She had touched his face and forehead commenting on how he seemed ill and offering him a spell that could soothe his nerves, but he’d been far too anxious to get out of the common room and they had simply decided to walk to breakfast together.

Harry hadn’t eaten a bite all morning and couldn’t seem to keep his leg from vigorously bobbing up and down with nervous energy. The loud chatter of students around him was drowned out by the blood rushing through his ears. Everything was muffled, but he could still feel their eyes. Mainly from his housemates, but still countless shooting glances coming from other students and teachers alike.

This had never happened before, at least he didn’t think it had. An unheard of occurrence and all happening to Hogwarts’ most infamous student. Suddenly there was an elbow to his ribs and he looked up to see Ron cheekily grinning at him.

“Brighten up a bit will ya? The whole hall can feel your nerves,” his eyes narrowed when Harry grimaced at the statement, “Harry seriously calm down, you look like you’re going to be sick - ”

Bam! The doors flew open just as Ron had started to lean towards him in concern and Dumbledore came striding forward, white cloak swirling around him impressively. Harry watched in growing dread as he swiftly approached the front of the room, tell-tale hat in one hand and small stool in the other. Out of the corner of his eye, Harry could see Ron turning back towards him, seemingly wanting to offer some last form of encouragement, and Hermione reaching for his hand across the table, but Dumbledore was already placing down the stool and the second that it’s legs touched the Great Hall’s floor Harry was up, out of his seat, and cautiously moving forward.

Looking up he locked eyes with Dumbledore who offered him a thin smile and gently nodded his head towards the stool. He swallowed down the bile in his throat and shot one last glance around the common room.

It was deathly silent, hundreds of eyes staring back at him. None of them questioned what was happening, the whole thing had been the talk of the school from the moment he was expelled. Every single one was expecting a quick sort back into Gryffindor and for breakfast to resume, but the sheer idea that such a thing had never happened before, along with the fact that Harry Potter was the person of interest, had turned the entire event into quite the public spectacle.

His sweeping gaze stuttered, only once, on a pair of wide blue-grey eyes that quickly broke contact. Draco Malfoy.

The sleep deprivation must be getting to him because for a split second he could’ve sworn he saw something other than a sneer on the Slytherin Prince’s face.

He’s snapped back to the moment when Dumbledore places a gentle hand on his shoulder.

“Feeling alright Harry?”

Harry simply gave a short nod and collapsed onto the stool. _Just get this over with._

He felt the hat as it was gently placed atop his head and after a split second of silence it got straight to the point.

"Potter, Potter didn’t think I’d ever see the day where I had to revisit a student. Did you miss me that much?” the hat spoke into his mind.

_Very funny. At least it will be quick since you’ve already made this decision once before. Just announce Gryffindor and we can both get back to normal._

“Ah ah ah that was before, this is now. You know, usually students become more like their own house after the sorting, but if anything I’d say your mind in itself is proving that I made a mistake in giving you a say in the choice the first time. And I don’t like making mistakes, Potter.”

_NO! No, don't say that I can’t go there please._

“Oh so you are aware of the change in you as well. Not even going to question why I would see such a thing in you. There is no need for a hat stall in this case when your personality is so clearly favoring Slytherin, the house of leaders.”

Harry’s blood ran cold at the mention of Slytherin, his eyes snapping open, sweat now gathering at his forehead and beginning to drip down into his eyes. He’s met with the sight of confusion. Everyone was clearly wondering why Gryffindor’s golden boy was still conversing with the hat when it was widely expected that Gryffindor would be shouted out the moment that it touched his head.

He closed his eyes again.

_You don’t understand._

He could hear the whispers all around him. Dread closing in.

_I’m the Chosen One, they’ll **kill** me! I won’t last a night._

“Oh Harry, have a little more faith in yourself than that. I think you will be surprised by your new housemates. We have Slytherin for a reason, without them the entire balance of Hogwarts would be thrown off completely. I’m sorry, but I must do what I think is right.”

He felt like a cow being led to slaughter as he heard the finality in the tone, but still tried one final plea.

_What happened to listening to students? Why can’t you tell that this will end me?_

“Oh I am listening to you, just not to your words.”

"SLYTHERIN," the Sorting Hat bellowed from atop Harry's head.

Its cry rang out into the Great Hall, which was suddenly cold and quiet. It seemed to echo within his head. **No. No no no no no.**


	3. The Calm

Harry remembered the silent explosion that seemed to happen within him all at once. The anger and rage and confusion coursing through his veins amplified until it was something physical, whirring in the air around him. The buzz in his ears completely drowned everything out, although he could vaguely see Dumbledore gesturing frantically and soon enough he was being flanked by the headmaster and Snape, down the main passageway towards the doors.

Dumbledore’s lips were pressed into a thin line, skin pale, while Snape seemed to be on the verge of boiling over with rage. Both of them kept shooting glances at him and then up, towards the ceiling. Harry didn’t look though, he couldn’t focus on anything other than the intense energy he felt. Some distant part of his brain wondered why both of the professors were keeping such a large distance from him, refusing to touch him even when he dragged behind their rapid pace to the doors, but he couldn’t bring himself to care. 

**Hollow.** That was the best word for it,

 _“He’s in shock”._ He vancantly heard Dumbledore mutter over the screaming void in his head.

Harry remembered being led to Dumbledore’s office, sitting there listening to the heated argument that ensued, he thinks McGonagall might’ve entered at some point, her shrill voice adding to the discourse spinning around. All with him as the eye of the storm. A silent sentry with no voice in the discussion of his life happening on every side of him. 

Eventually, they seemed to come to a conclusion, as they all rose in unison. Snape sneered down at him, lip curling with disdain, and for once in his life, Harry simply stared back. After a couple of seconds, Snape broke eye contact and began to sweep out of the room to the door. He hesitated at the exit, once again glaring over at Harry and that was when he realized he was supposed to be following. He slowly stood, shot one last furtive glance back at Dumbledore, and allowed himself to be escorted to the dungeons.

Harry barely managed to catch the whispered _“Aconite,”_ from Snape at the large grey wall and before he knew it he was standing in a grim, damp room of dark green. 

He didn’t stop to let it sink in, he didn’t acknowledge any of the gawking Slytherins lounging around, he didn’t even have the energy to sneer at the Malfoy he caught sight of at the edge of his vision, mouth hanging and skin almost sickly green. He simply allowed that former power to surge back through him again and followed after Snape up to where he presumed the rooms were, any snakes near him leaping away as he came near. 

Now here he is. On a green bed with green pillows and green blankets and a green curtain drawn tight around. He’d collapsed onto the bed, but not before putting every protection and muffling charm around it that he could think of.

He had drifted in and out of consciousness several times, each time hoping that when he awoke it would be to the warm crimson drapes of his home. Instead, each time the cold, imposing green closed in around him, tighter and tighter with each passing minute. 

The numbness had gradually started to give way to a crippling hunger. He toyed with the idea of simply seeing how long he could last, but eventually decided he had to do something about it. 

Cautiously, he raised the curtain and scanned the room. It was quiet and empty despite the brilliant rays of sunshine illuminating the room in bright shafts of light that move in waves from the large window out onto the lake. It must be early morning. He noticed the other three beds to the left also had their curtains drawn tightly shut, most certainly with newly placed protection charms as well to guard from the lion now resting in their midst, while the curtain directly to his left was open just enough to see a disheveled, empty bed. Carefully, he rose and tiptoed to the door, suddenly feeling somewhat nauseous. 

Harry reached the common room without conflict and scurried towards the exit. Just as he was about to reach for the door handle, something grabbed him from behind and slammed him into the wall.

Wincing on contact with the hard stone, he opened his eyes to meet the sunken, grey-blue ones of his attacker.

**_“Potter.”_ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have decided to write Harry as bisexual, as a bisexual person myself. I feel as though it will be easiest to write from a position that I am familiar with for most of the book. In my own experience, I have never really "come out," not because I'm afraid or don't want people knowing but because I don't particularly think it's anyone's business, which has led to only a handful of people knowing with a majority of people assuming I'm straight. I plan to write Harry in a similar light when it comes to his sexuality.


	4. Adjusting

Draco’s hands were trembling with rage as they held onto the lapels of his cape. 

“What the fuck did you do,” the Slytherin seethed through gritted teeth, “what type of sick joke is this?”

“Do you really think this was my idea? What type of sick fucking masochist would I have to be to actually want to be in this-” 

He was stopped mid sentence by Draco roughly shaking him again, his head bouncing off the rock wall behind them painfully, causing Harry to wince. “Don’t you dare, you don’t get to infiltrate our home and sleep in our rooms and then come out here, in OUR common room, and shit talk.”

Harry had to admit, he was taking some sick sense of satisfaction out of how riled up he’d managed to get Malfoy by simply existing. Usually it took most of his energy to even ruffle his feathers, but looking at the deep purple bags under Draco’s watering eyes and pale face was enough to let Harry know that the only person more devastated by Harry’s transfer than Harry was the Slytherin prince himself.

“Wipe that stupid smirk off your face and answer me Potter,” Draco snarled, leaning in closer until his nose lightly brushed Harry’s own, “what are you doing here.”

All at once, Malfoy’s closeness became too much for Harry and his instincts fired back up again. He shoved as hard as he could against Draco’s firm chest, allowing some of that inner strength of his from earlier to channel back through him. His pale form flew across the room, silver sparks trailing after him, until it hit the back of a mossy green couch, its dark wooden legs groaning with protest as it shudders from the impact. 

Harry looked down at his hands in shock, watching as the residual sparks swirled around his fingers before dissipating. _What in the hell was that._

A grunt sounded from the other end of the room and Harry’s wide eyes snapped up from his hands to catch the sight of Malfoy dragging himself to his feet, using the couch for assistance, until he was crookedly standing, one hand clutching his side and eyes simmering with white fury. Watery light from the windows behind him highlighted his wounded form in a terrifyingly beautiful green and Harry found that he could only fix himself in place and watch as Draco dragged his hand roughly through disheveled white hair and threw him a smile through gritted teeth.

“Lucky lucky boy, the Chosen boy. Lucky that I put up silencing charms all over this room this morning, lucky he survived the night, lucky I can’t kill him right now.” 

Fear bloomed in Harry’s chest as Draco took shuffling steps back towards him, wand raised, with a crazed grin on his face. He looked… unhinged and it unsettled some deeply buried part of Harry’s psyche. 

Harry flinched when Draco got to him and instantly shot out a hand to grab the front of Harry’s robes yet again. When he reopened his eyes though, it was to the sight of the Slytherin emblem patch, shoved into Harry’s face.

“You see this? This means that Slytherin somehow accepted you in. This means that, like it or not, you are a Slytherin, so you’d better start acting like it. You want to survive here? Prove yourself worthy to be wearing this or leave.”

With that, Draco took the opportunity to shove Harry back, lower his wand, and spin out of the room, robe fluttering like dark wings in his wake. 

Harry slowly looked down and turned his robe back for a second look. Sure enough, where a crimson logo had proudly sat just a day ago, there now laid a green, coiled snake. Stupid Hogwarts magic. He grimaced down at the patch for several seconds, considering tearing it off himself before rationalizing that the next morning it would probably be sitting at the end of his bed again, perfectly unblemished.

Turning his attention back to his hands, Harry called forth the sparks again and watched in quiet fascination as they danced around his palms. Malfoy had seemed truly alarmed by their appearance in their fight and oh the power they contained. He wasn’t sure what allowed him to harness them, but found so much comfort in the protection they were seemingly providing him with.

To the dead morning air of the musty Slytherin common room, Harry made a whispered promise.

_“I’m not the one that should be worried about surviving this.”_

-

He swiftly made his way down to the Great Hall, praising how deserted it was this early in the morning, with only a few slack-jawed Hufflepuffs there to watch him hurriedly shove down some food.

While eating, he considered his options. He had no choice but to face his day normally, attending classes and doing his best not to attract negative attention to himself. Why, **why did this have to happen to him of all people.** It wasn’t like he didn’t already have enough to deal with, what between his schoolwork and extracurriculars, which just so happened to heavily include a little something called hunting the freaking Dark Lord with his two closest friends- **fuck.**

Harry’s eyes shot open in realization as he suddenly remembered. Ron and Hermione.

He put his face in his hands and groaned. Of course how could he forget. How could he be such an absentminded idiot to forget that he had simply left his best friends. How could he have been so selfish as to completely forget about them for so long. 

His scar sent shooting pains through his already raging, sluggish brain and Harry absentmindedly rubbed it while he thought.

_Okay make it through the day and talk to Ron and Hermione. That’s all you’ve got to do._

-

Classes were… strange that day. To say the least. 

Harry was given a new schedule to attend with his new housemates and he was instructed to sit in the midst of a sea of not-so-subtly hostile green robes while his former housemates shot fiery glances at him across the room. All that barely concealed anger seemed to grow in strength from class to class, as Harry did his best to ignore it and avoid everyone in the halls. Thankfully a small group of sympathetic Hufflepuffs and Ravenclaws had managed to shuttle him to each of his classrooms with few incidents. All that built up tension was bound to come to a head eventually though, and low and behold it did. Right in the middle of potions.

It had started when Harry attempted to approach his old desk next to Ron, only for Snape to catch his arm and snarl into his ear, “go, sit with the prefects of your house. You will not embarrass Slytherin on my watch.” 

With dawning horror, Harry was dragged in the direction of an empty desk, a desk with one Draco Malfoy seated to its left and Pansy Parkinson just one more chair over. **Fuck.**

There was nothing at all he could do, so he simply allowed himself to be unceremoniously deposited next to a very angry Malfoy. Harry could tell that Malfoy was itching to say something, to pick up their fight from that morning where he left it off, but with one last sharp look from Snape, Draco turned entirely away to speak in a low voice to Pansy. Harry could feel every single set of Gryffindor eyes shooting daggers into his back, but he didn’t quite have the strength to turn around and face them yet.

Great. This is going to be bloody fantastic.

Snape started his awful lecture and Harry dutifully pulled out paper to try to take notes on the professor’s ramblings. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Draco and Pansy following suit, attempting to keep up appearances, especially with the Gryffindors only a few feet away. 

It was then that Ron entered, late, and scurried to his seat, Dean Thomas moving to take Harry’s old seat beside him. When he caught Harry looking, Ron simply gave him a narrow-eyed glare and turned away. 

“Ronald Weasly, you think you’d at least have the sense to try to show up on time. Ten points from Gryffindor,” Snape gritted out before whirling back around to continue writing out convoluted explanations on the blackboard. He felt the tens of glares on his back sharpen, as though the points taken from Gryffindor house were in some way due to his betrayal of them. He narrowed his focus back down to his textbook, attempting to find any page that could help him understand whatever material Snape was throwing at them that day and was just about to resign himself to confusion when Draco ever so slightly turned to him.

“Page 376, paragraph 3. For the love of hell Potter if you’re going to sit with us you need to at least make us look good.” Draco turned back away, but apparently his movement hadn’t been imperceptible enough. 

“What so we get points off for being a few minutes late, but Potter and Malfoy can have a lovely little chat through lecture and nothing happens to them,” a quiet yet incredulous voice sounded from the midst of the Gryffindors.

“Guess he truly is one of them now, sitting with the prefects, getting special treatment from Snape, even down to the robes,” another sneered over at him.

Before Harry could even open his mouth to refute their statements, a Slytherin near the edge of the walkway had turned to glare defiantly back, “he must have just matured past Gryffindor. Ready to finally be a leader.”

That was when all hell broke loose and, to his surprise, all the Slytherins in the class seemed to unanimously gather around him. Firing back as the Gryffindors screamed their outrage at him. To Harry’s dismay, he could see Ron, red in the face, caught up in the middle of the yelling match.

“Order! Order in the classroom or I’m taking 50 points from both houses!” Snape quickly swooped between the two rivaling groups, lip curling with his wand in hand. “That will be quite enough, now you will both sit quietly for the remainder of the class or there will be consequences.”

The rest of the class passed in uneasy silence.

This time it was a rather large group of Slytherins that shoved Harry out of class and down the halls to his next room. When they reached the door a rather large one leaned down, looking through Harry’s glasses and into his eyes. “You haven’t earned our protection yet, so consider that a one-time thing. Don’t expect us to save your ass next time.”

Harry let the sparks return and the group stumbled back in shock. 

“Trust me when I say I **don’t** need the help,” Harry snarled before turning away to enter the classroom.

He found a snake under his bed that night.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not usually a huge fan of works about real people, but I learned that Dream and George were okay with Heat Waves, so I read it and then read it two more times. Masterpiece. Also I ended up completely rewriting this chapter because I was originally going to have it from Draco's POV, but then realized it'd be much more fun to see things through Harry's ignorant view.


	5. Gleam

It was clearly a pet, most likely snuck into the castle. A small glimmering, iridescent snake coiled in a defensive position peeking out from under the edge of his bed like a gemstone in the murky light, its dark scales reflecting rainbows onto the ground around it. That’s not the type of snake that you’d just _find_ in rainy old England.

Harry had initially been surprised by the lack of conflict he’d been presented with on the way to his dorm, but now the silent snickering from the Slytherins in the common room made perfect sense.

_“If you step on me I will bite you,”_ the small snake hissed up at him, puffing up protectively.

_“You are beautiful,”_ Harry hissed back in reply. He saw something akin to shock show in the snake’s eyes. _“What is your name?”_

_“He speaks,”_ Harry swept a cautious glance around the room to make sure they were truly alone before holding out one careful hand for the snake to slither up his arm and carefully settle around his neck, head close to his ear, _“I go by Cassiopeia.”_

Harry wasn’t sure if it was his flattery or ability to communicate, but Cassiopeia seemed greatly comforted by his presence. Probably had something to do with the Parseltongue, Harry reasoned. He’d always had a special way with any snake he met and they bonded easily with him. Harry carefully reached up a finger and ran it down her spine and she curled closer into his hair. _“Ah of course you would be named after the constellation of a queen.”_ She stretched out happily at the compliment and nestled like a crown in his thick, dark hair. 

_“So, who sent you after me? Surely someone was hoping to spook me into leaving.”_

_“The brown haired girl snuck me in and dropped me on the floor over there,”_ Cassiopeia huffed as Harry started gathering the things he needed before he attempted to go find Hermione. _“Pansy?”_ Harry squinted in confusion. Of all the people he expected this from it sure wasn’t her. _“I wouldn’t know,”_ Cassiopia growled, _“I think she was just trying to get rid of me.”_

_“I doubt that she’d want to be rid of you,”_ Harry hissed while pocketing his wand and heading back to the door, _“just probably some poor attempt to scare me,”_ Harry attempted to console her. Cassiopeia seemed to coil even tighter and he grimaced at the thought of having to return her when even speaking of her owner distressed her. _“You wouldn’t know what it feels like to be scooped out of your home and forced into this place,”_ she murmured. In spite of it all, Harry felt something akin to a grin growing across his face, _“you’d be awfully surprised.”_

At the doors he hesitated while reaching for the intricate silver handle, considering the snake precariously perched atop his head and the crowd of Slytherins awaiting him. _“Whelp they were hoping for a show, so we’d better give them one, don’t ya think Cassi?”_ The snake hummed in quiet amusement and Harry pushed the door open. 

The first person he saw was Goyle, perched precariously on the end of a velvet emerald couch, who whipped around, a cruel grin bright on his face. “Did you enjoy your Slytherin welc-” he stuttered to a stop after spotting the snake coiled across Harry’s temples. Within seconds every sneering face in the room had turned to look at them with expressions of shock and horror as they realized the outcome of their attempted prank. Harry took one slightly unsteady step forward and the sound alerted the one remaining person with his back to Harry as he turned slowly.

Dracos pale eyebrows jumped and pupils blew wide before turning to face them fully. That was when Harry finally realized what he must look like, green emblazoned robe, green eyes, and living snake ringlet shrouded in shadows and watery green light. _Looks like you’ve got some competition little Slytherin prince,_ Harry mused before he could catch his racing thoughts. _No no no not a one of them yet, I’m not giving in that easy._ He recovered from his momentary panic quickly and raised his chin to briskly walk towards the exit. That was when Cassi spoke again.

_“They cower before us,”_ she puffed proudly. _“I don’t think this is quite what they were expecting,”_ Harry absentmindedly hissed back. That was when the room broke out into gasps and whispers and the students scurried out of his way. _“Yeah, definitely not what they expected.”_ He couldn’t quite manage to drag his eyes away from Draco though, dressed in a dark green pullover, sharp features pulled taught.

“You’re just full of surprises aren’t you Potter,” Draco grumbled under his breath as Harry grew near. “Maybe it’s just that stubborn bravery of mine that’s pulling me through,” Harry sneered back. “Reckless behavior won’t last you long though,” he leaned closer and whispered, eyes wide, “danger is coming for you.” With that, he left. Harry puzzled for a moment over it. He wasn’t sure if it sounded more like a threat or a… warning? There was no point in truly lingering over it right now though, still standing at the edge of the common room surrounded by still stunned students, so he followed Malfoy’s lead, tucked Cassi away in his shirt, and departed before Pansy could utter a word.

-

All classes for the day were over, so Harry knew exactly where he could find her. It took him all of thirty minutes to spot Hermione seated near the back of Hogwarts’ extensive library, deep in study, yet he was suddenly terrified to approach. She was surrounded by high stacks of dusty books, nose shoved into a rather large one, an achingly familiar expression of concentration plastered firmly onto her face. He gulped unsteadily. After watching Ron’s reaction to his new housing, he wasn’t quite sure how he’d survive if Hermione now shoved him off as well. Before he could change his mind though, Hermione glanced up. 

“Harry,” Hermione breathed, tears filling her eyes and before he could react he was swept up in a death grip hug, face buried in her frizzy brown hair. That was when he broke. The mask and appearances and strength that he’s been keeping up for the past couple of days for the sole purpose of survival finally crumpled and he started to break out of the dazed, apathetic state he’d created in order to keep the shock from truly hitting him.

“Hermione,” his voice cracked and he pulled her even closer. Sobbing into her shoulder, shaking her entire body with his grief-stricken frame. Waves of relief washed over him as she simply allowed him, brushing his hair back from his forehead and murmuring assurances in his ear. He’d been so so lonely, yet so terrified to reach back out. “Shh, it’s okay Harry. I’m here.” That was when Cassi took the opportunity to poke her head out from the collar of his shirt, tongue flicking with irritation towards the girl she now found herself plastered to.

Hermoine gasped and took a half step back. “Who’s this,” she asked, wide eyed. Her red, blotchy face, still wet with tears forming an expression of surprise. “Ah uh, this… this is Cassiopeia,” Harry awkwardly coughed out, voice still wet with tears. He clenched his jaw and hurriedly wiped the rapidly drying tears off his face, bracing himself for the backlash now that Hermione had a living representation to remind her of where his house loyalties now lied. Instead, she carefully reached out a hand, appearing almost… fascinated? “Where did you manage to get your hands on Pied-Bellied Shieldtail Snake,” she asked and Harry watched in wonder as Cassi allowed herself to be delicately brushed by Hermione’s soft finger tips. “Well uh - she was meant to be, I don’t know like - I guess a prank.” She glanced up at him through narrowed, concerned eyes. “It’s not - well I mean I think they were just trying to scare me but like obviously, ya know Cassi and I, we… talked it out? So it didn’t really work out for them,” Harry stammered on.

Cassiopia turned to stare upwards at him. _“Calm down Wonder Boy, I think she likes me.”_

_“How can you even tell that I’m not calm,”_ Harry hissed back defensively, _“it’s not like you can understand our conversation.”_ _“No I can’t, but I can tell when your heartbeat and heat rise that much, I’m not stupid,”_ Cassi countered before turning back to Hermione and gracefully wrapping her way up her forearm, settling like some kind of sparkling bracelet. Hermione cooed at the sight, “Poor thing you must have traveled such a long way to get here,” she murmured before turning back to Harry, “Always knew that Pareltounge of yours would come in handy sometime, you must have really turned them around,” she chuckled softly before grabbing Harry’s shoulder with her opposite hand, being careful not to disturb Cassi, face going serious once again. 

“I am so glad you came to find me. I tried waiting around the Great Hall and outside your classes and I could never find you.” Harry grimaced in guilt. “I’m sorry, I was just so -” 

“ **No Harry,** don’t apologize. I couldn’t even begin to imagine how overwhelming this has all been for you. I wanted to apologize to you.” Harry cocked his head slightly, “Apologize for what?” he questioned.

“Ron mainly,” Hermione scoffed, “but also for not running after you while you were being led away by Snape or sitting outside the Slytherin doors until they let me in.”

“Oh no it’s fine, I was fine.” Hermione gave him a skeptical look at Harry’s still tear-stained face and he rubbed his eyes harder, as if to hide the evidence. “You don’t need to lie to me Harry, it’s okay to not be okay sometimes and **we** should always be there for you to support you…” she trailed off.

“... he hates me doesn’t he.” Harry concluded. “No he doesn’t he’s just angry and stubborn and so full of house pride that he somehow thinks this is some kind of betrayal on your part,” she scoffed. “I didn’t mean for this to happen,” Harry whined, feeling his eyes start to water again, this time from frustration. Hermione’s expression became one of soft sadness. “ I know you didn’t mean it Harry, I should’ve caught on to your worries sooner, realized why you felt so fearful that night before the ceremony.” They both stood there for a quiet moment reflecting on just how much had changed between them in such a short number of days. “I miss you, and he does too, whether he’s ready to admit to it or not.” 

Determination surged in Harry’s chest. “Just because I’m not living with you anymore doesn’t mean that anything else has to change. I still need you,” he paused for a second, before leaning closer and whispering “it’s not like our cause has changed.”

A shadow went over her as she nodded her head in agreement. “I’m with you Harry, whenever you need me, however you need me. We’ll get through this,” she grinned, “and I’ll work on Ron,” she added almost as an afterthought. 

“I really really appreciate it ‘Mione,” Harry smiled before pulling her back in for another hug, being careful not to crush Cassi again. “Gosh I missed you,” he groaned into her shoulder. Hermione grimaced, “That bad huh?” He snorted and pulled away again, “What did you really expect from them?”

“Oh I’m not sure, I knew they’d hate you at first and I am terrified for your safety, but Slytherins have strong house bonds. I’m certain they’ll pull you into the loop eventually if only to save face. Although, I have noticed a lot of them are taking some sort of smug pride in having the apparent most powerful wizard at Hogwarts on their team now. I’m surprised the Flint hasn’t been knocking down your door to be their new seeker, but really Harry what was with those sparks?”

Unconsciously, he called them forth yet again and allowed them to zap from finger to finger, holding his hand up so that Hermione could study them closely. “Wow, how do you do that?” 

“Absolutely no clue. It’s just this… this feeling I get and then if I tap into it enough they just do this,” Harry shrugged helplessly.

“Fascinating,” she uttered and before he could stop her she’d poked her finger right into the center of his palm, instantly jumping back and sucking her finger into her mouth, Cassi hissing in protest at the sudden movement. 

“Careful!” Harry grit out worriedly and reached over to grab the injured hand, healing spells on the tip of his tongue, but wordlessly she held up her good hard to stop him and looked closely at the injured one. It had small raised red lines of irritation from the tip of her pointer finger and down across her palm.

“Hmm, it seems… almost just like pure magic. You’re not nonverbally casting are you?” she said. “Uh, no it kinda just happens,” Harry stuttered out, “are you sure you’re okay?”

She waved him off absentmindedly, “yeah, yeah that one didn’t hurt too bad. I just want to know how you’re doing it,” she murmured, still not looking up from her palm, “I think I’m going to do some research into it, you can keep me company if you’d like,” she looked up chocolate eyes meeting his, “I’d love some company. Plus you’ve got a DADA assignment to do don’t you?”

He sighed out a tired smile. Of course Hermione would be sure to keep his schoolwork on track despite it all, but he still felt himself nodding in acceptance before collapsing in the chair across from the one she’d previously been sat in. She rested her hand on the table, allowing Cassi to slither off her, across the space between them, and back up into Harry’s shirt. And there they stayed softly chatting or simply sitting in amicable silence until the daylight had completely faded into darkness and the stars lit up the sky through the large picture windows. They slipped out of the library as it was closing, said one last hopeful goodbye, and with heavy heart Harry turned away from Hermione, away from the path to the Gryffindor dorms, and started the slow trek back to the dungeons. 

Silently praying that his new dorm mates would be fast asleep by now, he crept up the stairs, pushed open the door, and looked up to see Draco Malfoy sitting cross legged in the center of the bed next to his own, bottle of Firewhiskey in hand.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am working on making some longer chapters now that I've gotten into the flow of things :)


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